Girls outshine boys in Meghalaya HSSLC exam

ANDREW W. LYNGDOH

Shillong, May 5: This year’s Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) examination results were no different from the previous years, with girls outshining boys.

While the overall pass percentage in the HSSLC (science) was 75.33, that in the HSSLC (commerce) was 67.91 per cent. In 2013, it was 73.29 per cent in the science stream and 69.24 per cent in the commerce stream.

In the regular category (HSSLC science), the pass percentage among girl students was 78.40 while among the male students it was 74.47. In the non-regular category, the girl students recorded a pass percentage of 61.62 while the pass percentage among boys was 61.19.

In the science stream, 3,189 students had registered but 3,145 of them appeared. While 815 students were placed in the first division, 1,361 got second division and 135 third division.

In the HSSLC commerce stream, the pass percentage among female students in the regular category was 80.71 while it was 64.93 among male students. In the non-regular category, the pass percentage among females was 50.70 and among males it was 42.51.

There were 2,477 candidates who had applied for the commerce examination, but 2,443 of them appeared. There are 222 students who secured first division, 791 second division and 597 third division.

Although the top positions in both the streams were bagged by Shillong-based schools, the overall results in the 11 districts of the state were not too discouraging.

In the science stream, East Jaintia Hills district fared poorly with a pass percentage of only 12.50. South West Khasi Hills district recorded the lowest pass percentage in the commerce stream with 47.83.

Another aspect about the results is the concentration of students in East Khasi Hills district while the number of students appearing in the examinations from other districts was negligible.

For instance, there were no students in the science stream in schools located in South West Garo Hills while North Garo Hills, South Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills had no commerce students.

In contrast, East Khasi Hills had the highest number of students in both science and commerce streams.

There are only 55 higher secondary schools having the science stream while there are only 44 higher secondary schools offering commerce. Most of these schools are in East Khasi Hills district.

This clearly shows the absence of a balanced growth of schools imparting education in the science and commerce streams.

Perhaps, one of the reasons behind the disparity is the lack of trained teachers in these streams.

In the Garo hills region, the difference between last year’s results and this year’s was not so conspicuous.

In the science stream, West Garo Hills had last year recorded a pass percentage of 60.39 while East Garo Hills and South Garo Hills recorded 68.18 and zero, respectively.

In the 2013 commerce stream results, West Garo Hills recorded a pass percentage of 55.6 while East Garo Hills secured a 100 per cent record.